U.S. WEIGHS EASING LAWS TO SPUR TV TECHNOLOGY

New York Times News ServiceCHICAGO TRIBUNE

The Bush administration is preparing to propose a major relaxation of antitrust laws with the goal of permitting companies such as Motorola, AT&T and IBM to work together to produce high-technology equipment, beginning with high-definition television sets.

That technology, which provides a sharper picture, comparable in clarity to motion pictures, is regarded as the next generation of television. It is expected to have an impact in many other areas, including computers and telecommunications.

Commerce Secretary Robert A. Mosbacher, who oversees an administration-wide project to define a policy for high-definition television, said Tuesday: ''I think there`s a pretty good probability of changing the antitrust laws. I think Congress is ready to do it.''

The Defense and Justice Departments have expressed support for the principle of easing antitrust laws. President Bush has not taken a public stand on the antitrust issue, but he typically accepts the recommendations of the officials he asks to direct major projects.

The change in the law would take the form of legislation that would give companies immunity from the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1913 and other statutes. Five years ago, Congress modified antitrust laws to allow companies to engage in joint research.

The 1984 law said companies that disclosed joint research ventures to the Justice Department would be assessed actual damages, not triple damages of antitrust law, if they were found to have engaged in monopolistic

conspiracies.

Since then companies have set up more than 100 joint research ventures.

Expanding the antitrust waivers to permit joint production would mark a significant broadening of the exemption.

Mosbacher also said the administration was thinking of tying a reduction in the capital-gains tax for companies involved in high-definition television to a relaxation of the antitrust law.

He suggested that reducing the tax would give industry an additional incentive to strengthen itself to compete in high-definition television, known as HDTV.

Making an exception for high-definition television could pave the way for joint production arrangements in many other products, said Wayne D. Berman, counselor to Mosbacher and chairman of an interagency study group on HDTV.

Industry experts have said that if the United States does not become a leading player in HDTV, the nation could lose its lead in these critical areas.

The Japanese and Europeans are far ahead of the United States in the development of HDTV equipment and standards, but American researchers are gaining ground.